BUFFALO, N.Y. — With one deflection, Sidney Crosby ended a personal goal-scoring drought and helped the Pittsburgh Penguins make up for a poor performance.
Crosby scored 43 seconds into overtime, snapping a career-high nine-game scoreless streak, and lifting the Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
Pittsburgh, which improved to 4-5-1 in December, also rebounded from one of its poorest efforts of the year on Saturday in 7-3 loss to Toronto.
“We bounced back from last game and played a good hockey game,” Crosby said. “We were working hard, and I thought we deserved to win. Hopefully, we can build off of this.”
Crosby stopped his drought when he tipped in Evgeni Malkin’s shot past goalie Ryan Miller. The play survived a 2-minute video review that confirmed Crosby’s stick was under the crossbar when he touched it.
“It was pretty close,” said Crosby, who scored for the first time since netting a hat trick against New Jersey last month. “But I don’t think it was (a high-stick). My stick was angled down. If I would have hit it a little higher up, I think we would have been flirting with danger a little bit more.”
Miller disagreed. “I didn’t get a great look, but from my gut I thought it was a little high,” he said.
Alex Goligoski scored twice and added an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves to help the Penguins rally from a two-goal deficit.
“We haven’t been playing that well, so that’s a great road win against a good team,” Goligoski said. “It’s good for the locker room right now.”
Ales Kotalik and Daniel Paille had a goal and assist each, and Clarke MacArthur also scored for the Sabres (16-13-5), who lost their second straight and third in their last four.
